New member intro!

[Crazyfesido]

Excited to join this forum! I’ve been reading for a while and there’s a ton of valuable knowledge shared here. I’m turning 40 this year, and over the past year, my goal has been to get into the best shape of my adult life. I’m not looking to be a bodybuilder, but as I age, I want to maintain an athletic, functional figure.


My journey started with BPC-157 and TB-500 to address some long-standing shoulder problems that had made throwing a chore. I play softball a few nights a week. Those peptides basically wiped out the pain I’d been dealing with for the past 10 years


Since then, I’ve moved on to Reta, TRT, and most recently HGH. Over the past six months, I titrated Reta up to 1mg/day (7mg/week) with daily injections. A few months ago, I started TRT, currently at 170mg IM weekly under Dr. supervision. Last week, I began HGH at 2 IU daily upon waking; Natty IGF-1 was 200.

Looking forward to connecting with others, learning from your experiences, and sharing my own journey along the way!

 

[Elektrobot]

Nice

Have you done any bloodwork like lipid panels and stuff? What do those look like?

What's your blood pressure?

 

[Crazyfesido]

Nice

Have you done any bloodwork like lipid panels and stuff? What do those look like?

What's your blood pressure?

Yeah, I’ve had recent bloodwork done. Lipids look solid overall — LDL ~99, triglycerides 59, total cholesterol 149. HDL is a bit low at 36, but with very low TGs and good metabolic markers it’s not something my doctor is concerned about. A1c is 5.0.

Blood pressure is checked weekly at my clinic when I go in for my TRT shot and it consistently runs around 100-120 / 70’s

Hematocrit is 48%, which is within range. It does tend to rise over time on TRT, so my doctor has me donate blood about once every 6 months as a preventative measure

 

[Elektrobot]

ipids look solid overall — LDL ~99,

Dats no good. Especially if you have any future plans of raising your anabolic load. Try to get your ldl below 70 and hdl to 60+. Gen pop "range" is not Gear pop. To do what we do, you have to be more than in range, you have to be optimal. Especially if you are already 40 and have an ldl of 100

100-120 / 70’s

That's good. Get yourself a cuff. Check it every morning. Checking our blood pressure is the easiest preventative measure we can take.


Get your Apob and Lpa checked. Those are important cholesterol markers.

If you are 40, you are probably eligible for a calcium score test. Google search calcium score and the name of your city. They are usually offered by most large health networks as a self pay preventative test. In my area they are $50

Keep in mind that a calcium score only measures plaque that has already calcified, it does not detect soft plaques. Move on to a cardiologist after that for an echo and hopefully a cardiac ct angiogram and / or cardiac mri

Don't play with cholesterol, even if your dr tells you yours is ok. Science says otherwise.

We only have so many LDL years. The longer yours is elevated, the shorter statistics say your life will be

Even if your numbers are only slightly elevated...across time, it adds up and puts you above the threshold for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

There is lots of good info here about how to mange it. To get your HDL up, use an omega supplement. Or, tell your Dr you want to improve your cholesterol balance and ask for a prescription for Lovaza. It's a pharmaceutical fish oil supplement.

To get your LDL down......don't eat fat. Try to get your fats from seed and nut sources. Miss as many dairy and meat fats as possible, don't eat saturated fats. Hemp seeds are great for healthy fats and they can be sprinkled in all sorts of stuff.






*** Edit: Don't just dump blood for hematocrit. Hydrate before your test. Most people just go in fasted in the morning without much fluid, and the test comes back high. Hydrate. If it's high, ... drink more water and try again. Then keep that amount of water going in all the time. Its basic dilution. The less volume of fluid in your blood, the higher the concentration. Dilute it. dumping blood also dumps your iron, and it can be a long road back to recover that.

 

[Crazyfesido]

Dats no good. Especially if you have any future plans of raising your anabolic load. Try to get your ldl below 70 and hdl to 60+. Gen pop "range" is not Gear pop. To do what we do, you have to be more than in range, you have to be optimal. Especially if you are already 40 and have an ldl of 100



That's good. Get yourself a cuff. Check it every morning. Checking our blood pressure is the easiest preventative measure we can take.


Get your Apob and Lpa checked. Those are important cholesterol markers.

If you are 40, you are probably eligible for a calcium score test. Google search calcium score and the name of your city. They are usually offered by most large health networks as a self pay preventative test. In my area they are $50

Keep in mind that a calcium score only measures plaque that has already calcified, it does not detect soft plaques. Move on to a cardiologist after that for an echo and hopefully a cardiac ct angiogram and / or cardiac mri

Don't play with cholesterol, even if your dr tells you yours is ok. Science says otherwise.

We only have so many LDL years. The longer yours is elevated, the shorter statistics say your life will be

Even if your numbers are only slightly elevated...across time, it adds up and puts you above the threshold for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

There is lots of good info here about how to mange it. To get your HDL up, use an omega supplement. Or, tell your Dr you want to improve your cholesterol balance and ask for a prescription for Lovaza. It's a pharmaceutical fish oil supplement.

To get your LDL down......don't eat fat. Try to get your fats from seed and nut sources. Miss as many dairy and meat fats as possible, don't eat saturated fats. Hemp seeds are great for healthy fats and they can be sprinkled in all sorts of stuff.

View attachment 377471




*** Edit: Don't just dump blood for hematocrit. Hydrate before your test. Most people just go in fasted in the morning without much fluid, and the test comes back high. Hydrate. If it's high, ... drink more water and try again. Then keep that amount of water going in all the time. Its basic dilution. The less volume of fluid in your blood, the higher the concentration. Dilute it. dumping blood also dumps your iron, and it can be a long road back to recover that.

Thanks for all the insight! I’ve actually been considering getting ApoB and Lp(a) checked, so that’s reassuring to hear. The calcium score is a great suggestion which I hadn’t heard of before. I was under the impression my LDL was fine, but I also understand that normal standard medical guidelines don’t exactly mean optimized. I have been taking omegas but maybe need to increase my dosage a bit more. I’ll check out Lovaza as well.

 

[Crazyfesido]

Dats no good. Especially if you have any future plans of raising your anabolic load. Try to get your ldl below 70 and hdl to 60+. Gen pop "range" is not Gear pop. To do what we do, you have to be more than in range, you have to be optimal. Especially if you are already 40 and have an ldl of 100



That's good. Get yourself a cuff. Check it every morning. Checking our blood pressure is the easiest preventative measure we can take.


Get your Apob and Lpa checked. Those are important cholesterol markers.

If you are 40, you are probably eligible for a calcium score test. Google search calcium score and the name of your city. They are usually offered by most large health networks as a self pay preventative test. In my area they are $50

Keep in mind that a calcium score only measures plaque that has already calcified, it does not detect soft plaques. Move on to a cardiologist after that for an echo and hopefully a cardiac ct angiogram and / or cardiac mri

Don't play with cholesterol, even if your dr tells you yours is ok. Science says otherwise.

We only have so many LDL years. The longer yours is elevated, the shorter statistics say your life will be

Even if your numbers are only slightly elevated...across time, it adds up and puts you above the threshold for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

There is lots of good info here about how to mange it. To get your HDL up, use an omega supplement. Or, tell your Dr you want to improve your cholesterol balance and ask for a prescription for Lovaza. It's a pharmaceutical fish oil supplement.

To get your LDL down......don't eat fat. Try to get your fats from seed and nut sources. Miss as many dairy and meat fats as possible, don't eat saturated fats. Hemp seeds are great for healthy fats and they can be sprinkled in all sorts of stuff.

View attachment 377471




*** Edit: Don't just dump blood for hematocrit. Hydrate before your test. Most people just go in fasted in the morning without much fluid, and the test comes back high. Hydrate. If it's high, ... drink more water and try again. Then keep that amount of water going in all the time. It’s basic dilution. The less volume of fluid in your blood, the higher the concentration. Dilute it. dumping blood also dumps your iron, and it can be a long road back to recover that.

Also I have been a bit worried about dumping blood for this reason. I’d read about crashing ferritin and iron levels. I definitely have been going in fasted in the morning.

 

[Elektrobot]

Also I have been a bit worried about dumping blood for this reason. I’d read about crashing ferritin and iron levels. I definitely have been going in fasted in the morning.

Chug water early

then test